Nothing endures but change.
— Heraclitus, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, 3rd Century AD.
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I am dead.
Numb, formless in an abyss, my mind remained conscious. My psyche leafed through my life like a storybook: childhood, barely a breath on my legacy, but grew my passion for humans, for religion and culture and peoples, growing up in New York City. My teenage years flew by even faster, the palpitations of a first love, wailing for the first heartbreak—
Until it all stopped.
Wracked with pain, I was wrenched from emotional purgatory. A feeling of numbness washed over my mind, and a flurry of words invaded my thoughts.
[You have been Summoned]
[Trait Gained] - [Enslaved]
[ERROR: STATUS Missing - Compiling AKASHIC RECORD]
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This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
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Coming to, I saw... nothing. Well, close to nothing. My surroundings were vague outlines, pulsing faintly with every tremor. Focusing on myself, I saw small scraps, likely paper, swirling around a faint light. A long, solid object rested in my “hands”, resembling a pickaxe.
My body (if you could call it that) began to feel cold. My legs pulled and stretched off another’s volition, and my hand grasped the twisted tool in a foreign manner.
You know when something is so enraging, miserable, futile, that you either weep or laugh?
I chose option one. The worst part about it- I couldn’t even cry. The faint light as my center shook slightly, disturbing the scraps drifting around it. God, I don’t even know how I died. I—I can’t remember. The memory should be there. I searched what I could remember, and realized: I couldn’t think of anything past my heartbreak, the echo of it bringing another knife to my mental state.
[Mental Breakthrough Detected - [Derealize] - Fall deep, and know yourself. Know your worth and mind, before it crumbles.]
[Skill Gained] - [Lesser Empathy V]
[Trait Gained] - [Melancholia]
[Additional Evolution options unlocked]
Oh.
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I was still deep in the throes of self-pity, but the strange message seemed to have... stabilized me, in a way.
Turning my focus back on my senses, the world beyond my swirling form exploded in definition. The faint light now resembled a roiling, spherical wisp, shifting from blue to red in waves. The papery material that made up my body bound the central light, like a lasso to a raging bull.
Fuck, I’m really going mad.
My arms lifted, paper coalescing around my palm to hardily grip the pickaxe, swinging at a crystalline shape, shards breaking off like cracking glass. Alien whispers berated my arms to keep moving, my legs to keep pushing, and my free will to, if it may, fuck off.
Wait. I could not see that before.
A deep cave, strung with lights and layered with crystals surrounded me, the magnificence humbling me. Even more dazzling by the lack of outlines, the colors brought a smile to my soul, resembling the Fauvist paintings of my “old” life.
At the edges, growing fuzzy, I saw… others. Humanoids with the same, churning body, bumbling about with queer pickaxes. At their core rested a tiny light.
Hold on. I peered closer at the other slaves' lights.
Resting at their center, they looked but a tenth the side of my own. They were so much more simple, out of place in their human form.
I’m—I’m the only human here.
Rather than exacerbating my loneliness, the realization sparked hope like a match. Instead of grumbling about my lack of understanding of what in the world (or, at this point, off this world) was occurring, the scientist part of my brain began to churn out a plan.
Step 1: Figure out why I’m the only human here.
Perhaps animal souls were cheaper, and whatever penny-pinching necromancer decided they would take a venture into free labor really wanted to cut costs. Perhaps the region I’m located in is devoid of sapient life. Perhaps my soul looked especially appetizing. It doesn’t really matter, anyways. The only thing that does matter: I am unique. In theory, this means I have a chance out of this Machiavellian hellhole. Hopefully. For my sanity’s sake.
Step 2: Use this to my advantage.
Forcing an intelligent mind to mine rocks is akin to asking Einstein to attend kindergarten. With a little effort, I pulled up the orders commanding me.
Obey your [Summoner]. Find us wealth. Find us riches, until you can no longer.
Perfectly vague. Wonderful, I pithily remarked. The “until you can no longer” clause of the instruction sickened me, though, bringing back the bad taste in my mouth. Even though the slaves are just dead animals, even though I wasn’t meant to be there, it still enraged and dispirited me. Imagine having a panic attack in a straight jacket, double it, and give it to the next person.
Set with a plan, I began a mental wrestling match to move my body, all the while soothing that I would, without fail, make my [Summoner] happy in these grand, abhorrent, caves. My head throbbed with the exertion, and finally, I won the fight, rabid with pride.
I stepped through the tunnel, careful to avoid my fellow miners, gripping the pickaxe with my own thew.
Trudging deeper, vibrations guiding my path, adrenaline surged through me. You want riches, yeah? I thought. I can do that for you.
I’m sure monsters are worth some gold.